Page 42 - NS-2 Textbook

THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN SEA POWER 35

The landing of 12,000 American troops under General Winfield Scott at Veracruz during the Mexican War in 1847. The landing was made with-
out casualties while U.S. ships fired on shore batteries in the fort and city.

loaded in army transports and sailed to join with the both immense benefits and increased responsibilities for
Navy's Home Squadron, which was blockading Mex- the American people. A navy would now have to be
ico's east coast. The transports and the Home Squadron maintained in the Pacific to defend the nation's new
met at Veracruz in March. shores and to protect the many merchant ships that were
In the largest U.s. amphibious operation carried out soon to ply the trade routes to Asia.
before World War II, over 100 ships landed the American
force without losing a man. Included in the landing were
1,200 sailors and marines. As the ground forces sur- THE CLIPPER SHIPS
rounded Veracruz, the Navy took up bombardment po-
sitions off the major Mexican fort. A naval battery was Just as the Mexican War was about to start in 1845, the
sent ashore to aid the army in its bombardment of the most colorful and dramatic era of sailing ships began.
city. The fort and the city were pounded into submission The square-rigged clipper ship RaiJ/bow slid down the
in less than hvo weeks. ways in New York that year. The era of the clipper ships
With the port in American hands and supply lines ,vas beguuling.
clear, Scott and his army swept into Mexico. A series of As early as 1784 American ships had been taking
tough engagements were fought before the Army and part in the China trade. By 1825 American trade with
Marines captured Mexico City on 14 September 1847. It China was second only to that of England, and the U.S.
is this military operation that is remembered in the be- Navy established the East Indian Squadron to protect
ginning line of the Marine Hynm, "From the Halls of American ships and interests in the Pacific. In 1840 this
Montezuma." rich commerce stopped during the Opium War between
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexi- China and Britain. Trade was reopened in 1842, when
can War in February 1848. By its terms, Mexico recog- Comlnodore Lmvrence Kearny sailed into Canton, China,
nized the u.s. annexation of the New Mexico-Arizona with the USS COJ/stellatioJ/ and USS BOstOl1 of the East
Territory and California, and set the Rio Grande as the India Squadron. Kearny used a combination of courtesy,
U.s.-Mexican border. The United States had now firmness, fairness, and show of force to lay the founda-
reached its second seacoast. This realized the American tion for a successful trading treaty that was signed by
"Manifest Destiny," the dream of a cmffitry stretching China and the United States a year later.
from coast to coast, and was the most important result of 11,e trade with China always involved a race against
the Mexican War. As always, such a great victory meant time. In the early days it took as much as a year and a